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2 Cinch Buckles from OnRope arrived fast

They shipped by US PRIORITY mail on Monday, got here this Wed AM. Shipping, at $6.60, was only a little over $2 less than UPS ground. I'm wondering if I had communicated with them better, emphasizing I did not need priority mail, if we could have arranged significantly cheaper shipping. It seems like about a buck out to cover mailing 2oz ( and $2! ) worth of buckles. Any way, I don't think it would have ever got here in 2 days UPS ground. Plus, mail comes on Saturday had that been a factor. Anyway, it paid to call them and get just the 2 I needed and a little bit cheaper, but very fast, shipping. Shipping is definitely the butt kicked when ordering a little here and a little there, especially when ordering inexpensive stuff.

Now to go to the galleries and see the correct way to attach the HH rope to the buckle. I don't see why I couldn't just "lash" it thru there HH style, but that I guess that might get a little tight. In the mean time, the cleat has still been working quite well. HOWEVER, it's too hot ( for me anyway ) for for an all night hang, so no real test yet.

hard to un-cinch?

I just remembered how some reported difficulties un-cinching the buckles until they had laid in them for quite a while. That would be a bummer if I went out to the park for a quick test and couldn't get un-cinched. Since I won't be sleeping in it for a while, just a short hang for a test. Is this a worry? Is it a matter of just some difficulty, or is it near imposible to unhook? Are there any tricks to loosening the thing that I need to know?

If you pull it extremely tight and your support rope or strap does not stretch then it could be a problem. Usually even if you lay in it for a little while there is enough slack to loosen the buckle. There is only one person that mentioned he had to cut his strap but no body else has had that problem.

I just remembered how some reported difficulties un-cinching the buckles until they had laid in them for quite a while. That would be a bummer if I went out to the park for a quick test and couldn't get un-cinched. Since I won't be sleeping in it for a while, just a short hang for a test. Is this a worry? Is it a matter of just some difficulty, or is it near imposible to unhook? Are there any tricks to loosening the thing that I need to know?

You won't have any trouble loosening the buckles if you hang in the hammock for even as much as a minute or so. That's really all it takes. Personally, I've never had a problem loosening the buckles at all, but I understand the problem that some have had.

Check my gallery for some pics of how I attached the buckles. I agree that you could simply lash the HH spectra to the rings, but since the rope won't be as wide as the buckle, there will be a tendency for it to either slide or bunch up on one corner of the buckle. That's the reason that I tied sort of a prussik.

Good luck with those buckles, I think they're a great solution.

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

prussick style is now attached

Thanks for the fast replies, everyone. While those replies were coming in, I was following the pictorial instructions in BBishops gallery. Looks about the same as Angrysparrows, maybe with 1 more wrap in BBs. I should have used the one less wrap, because it was a bit of a struggle for room in the buckle with the stock HHULAS Explorer rope. Now I'll give it a try, with the cleat on the foot end and cinch buckles on the other. Whoo-hoo! All I'm missing now is the hitchcraft. At least none of this stuff is very expensive or heavy.

If I stick with this approach, I won't cut my rope for a while. For one thing, with my upcoming trip next month to the Olympics, there is no telling how big some of the trees will be, and/or how far apart, so I might need to use my long straps plus some of the extra rope length.

1st test very successful!

Well that was quick and easy! And now I see what you guys are talking about, and why this approach is so popular.

So I hung the foot end from the cleat as I have been doing. I still really like these things. I wish they would make one just a little thicker with a 300 lb or so working load, just to do away with any lingering doubts. Although, I have no real idea what working load these buckles can handle, I only know they are "rated for life support". Whatever that means, but it sounds encouraging!

Then I run the Speer 1" polypro around the rather thick tree ( trees about 18 ft apart) and back thru it's own loop, and in the blink of an eye, she's tight as a drum. And I could have easily gotten it tighter had I so desired.

First impressions: this is the quickest, most efficient way to really tighten the rope. I know if he were still here, TeeDee would disagree and vote for the cleats. Actually, the cleats may be just as quick or a second quicker to get the hammock up fairly tight. The advantage to the buckles is when you really want to tighten the hammock, which could be too much of a good thing if we're not careful, I suppose. When trying to go from pretty tight to really tight with the cleat, it tends to try and flip over on me, making it difficult to get the rope back over that first cleat. It's not a real problem and you quickly learn to make it work. But the tighter you are pulling, the trickier it is. But with the buckles, zippppp and you are as tight as you could wish. Hooray!

I have detected zero slippage with either, although I am now only loading with 203lbs instead of the 210 of a couple of weeks ago.

Unfortunately, I must join the crowd that is having a bear of a time loosening the buckle. There must be some trick to this, surely these buckles are not meant to be release proof? So the cleats are 2nd place on the make camp (IMO) but they are 100-1 quicker on the break camp for people like me that have to struggle releasing the buckle, even after a 5 minute hang.

No matter, I soon started using ED's advice about putting a stick in any knot that might be tough to undo. I got an aluminum tent stake ( or a pencil, pen, strong stick would do )and place it between the strap and the v shaped deal that point towards the hammock.(I hope I don't have this deal set up backwards- maybe that's why I can't undo it? ). Problem apparently solved. It has held so far, and is just as easy to tighten, and now loosens just as quick. I have a two handed hold to pull on towards the hammock, which quickly and easily loosens the buckle. Without me having to loosen the cleat end 1st to get some slack! Now I can quickly adjust tension with cleat or buckle to use as a chair/lounger or tighten for bed time. I love these items. I hope it will hold thru the night with that tent stake in there.

Or, why couldn't I put a loop of webbing thru the buckle and then tighten? Then pull on the tail ( slippery knot style) to loosen? I wonder if there is room for a loop and if it would hold? Has anybody tried this? I'll go try it right now.

I have not been bothering with a biner in the webbing, but have just been running the webbing around the tree and thru it's own loop and back to the buckle. Is there any reason I should not do that? Would it make any dif re: stress on the loop?

No problem with the loop thru the buckle

OK, the loop works just fine. It appears to hold tight, though I've only tested for a 5 minute hang or so. Instant loosening ability. If it did tend to slip a little as the hours went by, I wonder if an additional half hitch or 2 around the webbing would help. Has anybody tried this or the tent stake?

Another thought: If you were not doing one of the above and you could not get loose, couldn't you just loosen up the lashing or prussick you tied to the buckle? It might slow you up some tieing and retying, but it would beat cutting a strap.

What angle would you guye guess these ropes are with the hammock loaded?

OK, the loop works just fine. It appears to hold tight, though I've only tested for a 5 minute hang or so. Instant loosening ability. If it did tend to slip a little as the hours went by, I wonder if an additional half hitch or 2 around the webbing would help. Has anybody tried this or the tent stake?

Another thought: If you were not doing one of the above and you could not get loose, couldn't you just loosen up the lashing or prussick you tied to the buckle? It might slow you up some tieing and retying, but it would beat cutting a strap.

What angle would you guye guess these ropes are with the hammock loaded?

Or, why couldn't I put a loop of webbing thru the buckle and then tighten? Then pull on the tail ( slippery knot style) to loosen? I wonder if there is room for a loop and if it would hold? Has anybody tried this? I'll go try it right now.

I have not been bothering with a biner in the webbing, but have just been running the webbing around the tree and thru it's own loop and back to the buckle. Is there any reason I should not do that? Would it make any dif re: stress on the loop?

There is no reason you couldn't put a loop through the buckle, or use a tent stake, or tie knots, or whatever. Personally I find them unnecessary, though. When I want to release the buckle, I take hold of the cord between the hammock and the buckle (very close to the prussik) while pulling firmly toward the 'tree end', and with the other hand feed the free end of the webbing back through the buckle.

Originally Posted by BillyBob58

OK, the loop works just fine. It appears to hold tight, though I've only tested for a 5 minute hang or so. Instant loosening ability. If it did tend to slip a little as the hours went by, I wonder if an additional half hitch or 2 around the webbing would help. Has anybody tried this or the tent stake?

What angle would you guye guess these ropes are with the hammock loaded?

The loop method you use will work fine, although there are two reasons that many use biners instead. 1) Many of us never remove the webbing from the buckle, to save time upon setup and takedown. Simply loop the webbing around the tree and clip the biner, then pull the webbing tight through the buckle. 2) I don't recall who, but someone on this forum had a problem with the webbing fusing to itself where it passed through the loop. That might not be the case for everyone or for every type of webbing, though. Also, I think it is clear that webbing pulled through itself would be more abrasive than the smooth surface of a biner.

I can't speak to the exact angle, but it is quite small. The buckles do indeed allow a hammock with a structural ridgeline to be pulled VERY tight.

You are right about there being a possible danger of pulling too tight with the buckles. In the ring/buckle thread this came up for discussion. Tight enough, but not too tight...that's the key.

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy